By DON SERGENT, Bowling Green Daily News

Ozempictown, USA?

That moniker, applied to Bowling Green after an August report by the Bloomberg News online news organization that identified the city as the country’s weight-loss drug capital, is seen as more of a misnomer than an accurate portrayal by city leaders and some health care professionals.

“I was a little surprised” by the Bloomberg report, said Rick Welch, a physician with Bowling Green’s Doctors Diet Program. “This came out of the blue. We use a lot of the (weight loss) products here, but that came as a surprise to me.”

Welch said his practice does use antidiabetic semaglutide drugs like Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy, but he doesn’t see the type of widespread use or abuse of the drugs that would justify a report that said Bowling Green was being “transformed” by weight-loss drugs.

“Done correctly, it (semaglutide) truly is an amazing drug,” said Welch, who emphasized the need to include such drugs as part of a complete weight-loss program. “We do offer a comprehensive program. We want them (patients) to have the right concept.”

That contrasts with the picture painted by the Bloomberg News report, which identified Bowling Green as a hotbed of weight-loss drugs based on prescription statistics obtained from the PurpleLab health care analytics company and population figures.

According to the report, at least 4% of Bowling Green residents have received a prescription for such drugs in the past year or so. That’s a high-enough rate to set Bowling Green apart, according to Madison Muller, a health reporter for Bloomberg News.

In an interview on a Bloomberg TV podcast, Muller said: “Bowling Green, Huntsville, Alabama, and a few other areas stood out (in the data analysis). Bowling Green clearly stands out because everyone here is on the drugs or knows someone who is.”

That is news to Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott, who called the Bloomberg report “click bait.”

“I haven’t been able to read the full report,” Alcott said. “I’m not sure what methodology was used.”

Likewise, Bowling Green City Commissioner Sue Parrigin is skeptical of the report, although she admits to having seen signs around the city promoting weight-loss drugs.

Local doctors like Welch and obstetrician-gynecologist Keith Hewitt are proponents of semaglutides, but they emphasize that they need to be part of a comprehensive weight-loss program that includes diet and exercise.

“Semaglutides can do many wonderful things,” Welch said. “The most important thing is controlling release of insulin.

“There are people in Bowling Green writing scripts (prescriptions) and not doing a full program. Anything I do has a program with it.”

Hewitt, who says “some people get great results” from semaglutides, doesn’t totally discount reports that the city is something of a mecca for weight-loss drugs.

He said Bowling Green was a popular destination in the 1990s for the weight-loss drug combination fenfluramine/phentermine, usually called fen-phen, because it wasn’t available in Tennessee.

“Maybe this (the relatively high use of semaglutides) is a holdover from that,” Hewitt said. “Bowling Green could still be seen as a mecca for weight-loss drugs.”

Hewitt said the fact that Kentucky has a high obesity rate could contribute to the rate of semaglutide use. Combine that with a thriving economy in Bowling Green and you have a recipe for high weight-loss drug use, he said.

Hewitt and Welch, though, emphasize that the semaglutides often come with side effects and aren’t necessarily for everyone.

“The number one side effect is nausea,” Welch said. “It (semaglutide drug) slows down digestion.”

The side effects led Bowling Green resident Brenda Pearson to abandon weight-loss drugs in favor of a nutritional therapy program available through her employer.

“In the past, I have struggled with my weight and have taken weight-loss pills,” Pearson said. “But that came with side effects I didn’t like. It wasn’t sustainable.”

Pearson signed up for a weight-loss program through a California-based company called Virta Health, and she is pleased with the results.

“I’ve done a phenomenal job of losing weight without any medication,” she said. “I’ve lost right at 40 pounds simply through changing my diet. It has made all the difference for me.”

D.J. Cobb, a health and wellness coach for Virta Health, said he focuses on sustainable change that doesn’t involve weight-loss drugs, but he admits that it’s tempting to take the medication route.

“Medication can be enticing,” he said. “It is becoming increasingly popular as a quick fix.”

​– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.